For goodness’ sake take care of those dangerous stunts of yours. You have done enough of them. I speak because I have just read of the death of the “Human Fly.”[77] Is it worth it?
“Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) A. Conan Doyle.”
It would be difficult to determine just when Sir Arthur and I first discussed Spiritualism, but from that talk to the present we have never agreed upon it. Our viewpoints differ; we do not believe the same thing. I know that he treats Spiritualism as a religion. He believes that it is possible and that he can communicate with the dead. According to his marvellous analytical brain he has had proof positive of this. There is no doubt that Sir Arthur is sincere in his belief and it is this sincerity which has been one of the fundamentals of our friendship. I have respected everything he has said and I have always been unbiased, because at no time have I refused to follow the subject with an open mind. I cannot say the same for him for he has refused to discuss the matter in any other voice except that of Spiritualism and in all our talks quoted only those who favored it in every way, and if one does not follow him sheep-like during his investigations then he is blotted out forever so far as Sir Arthur is concerned. Unfortunately he uses the reasoning, so common among Spiritualists, that no matter how often mediums are caught cheating he believes the only reason for it is that they have overstepped their bounds and resorted to trickery in an effort to convince. I wonder if some day Sir Arthur will forget that he is a Spiritualist and argue a case of trickery with the sound logic of an outsider. I firmly believe that if he ever does he will see and acknowledge some of his errors. I am ready to believe in Sir Arthur’s teachings if he can convince me beyond the shadow of a doubt that his demonstrations are genuine.
There is no doubt in my mind, Sir Arthur believes implicitly in the mediums with whom he has convened and he knows positively, in his own mind, they are all genuine. Even if they are caught cheating he always has some sort of an alibi which excuses the medium and the deed. He insists that the Fox Sisters were genuine, even though both Margaret and Katie confessed to fraud and explained how and why they became mediums and the methods used by them to produce the raps.
“Like Cæsar’s wife—always above suspicion,” Hope and Mrs. Dean pass in his category as genuine mediums. He has often told me that Palladino[78] and Home some day would be canonized for the great work they did in the interest of Spiritualism, even though they were both exposed time and time again. In all gravity he would say to me, “Look what they did to Joan of Arc.” To Sir Arthur it is a matter of most sacred moment. It is his religion, and he would invariably tell me what a cool observer he was and how hard it would be to fool him, or in any way deceive him.[79] He told me that he did not believe any of “the nice old lady mediums” would do anything wrong and it was just as unlikely for some old gentleman, innocent as a child unborn, to resort to trickery. But there comes to my mind the notorious Mrs. Catherine Nicol and her two daughters who were continuously getting in and out of the law’s net, usually breaking the heads of a few detectives in the process. Among the “nice old lady” mediums might be mentioned a prominent medium of Boston who was accused of taking unlawfully from one of her believers over eight thousand dollars in cash.
Another case was that of a medium who received $1,000 from a man in Baltimore for the privilege of a few minutes’ chat with the Spirit of his dead wife. He later sued her for fraud. Later she was exposed while giving a seance in Paris, but after a few years she appeared in New York City.
At this time Asst. District Attorney Krotel asked that she be brought into court to answer to a charge of selling California mining stock to her followers through the advice of certain disembodied Spirits. The stock was found to be worthless.
There was also a woman, who was arrested and convicted for vagrancy in Seattle and numerous other cases, such as that of Katie King of Philadelphia in 1875; however, no matter how many cases I cited, it did not seem to make any impression on Sir Arthur.
I had known for some time that a number of people wanted to draw Doyle into a controversy. When I saw Sir Arthur I told him to be careful of his statements and explained a number of pitfalls he could avoid. Nevertheless, despite my warnings, he would say: “That’s all right, Houdini, don’t worry about me, I am well able to take care of myself. They cannot fool me.” To which I would reply he had no idea of the subtleness of some of the people who were trying to draw his fire.
When I called Sir Arthur’s attention to the number of people who have gone crazy on the subject because of persistent reading, continuous attendance at seances and trying automatic writing, his answer would be: “People have been going mad[80] for years, and you will find on investigation that many go mad on other subjects besides Spiritualism.” On being reminded that most of these people hear voices and see visions, he denied that they were hallucinations, and insisted that he had spoken to different members of his family.[81]